Call for Papers: Edited Volume on "Writing under Duress in Anglophone Arab Literature: The Articulation of a Coerced Imagination"

Editors: Dr. Hamida Riahi, Prof. Mounir Triki, and Dr. Saud Enazi

Publisher: This volume is being prepared for submission to Palgrave Macmillan for consideration.

Overview

This project serves as a call for scholarly articles addressing the theme of writing under duress in Anglophone Arab literature. The proposed volume aims to explore how Anglophone Arab writers, across various genres of literature, address the challenges of articulating their experiences and ideas when subjected to atmospheres of uncertainty, fear, or repression. Specifically, the collection seeks to examine how political, social, and cultural constraints shape literary production, particularly for writers living in diasporic contexts or under surveillance, such as the post-9/11 climate and beyond.

Anglophone Arab writers often grapple with dual pressures: the expectations of a readership influenced by Orientalist frameworks and the fear of alienation or accusations of cultural betrayal within their own communities. This tension generates a form of coerced imagination, where external and internalized constraints inhibit their capacity to freely address personal or politically sensitive topics. Similarly, the legacy of trauma, war, colonialism, or genocide profoundly impacts creative expression, leading to narratives steeped in emotional and psychological resistance.

The coercion of imagination under duress manifests in distinctive narrative and stylistic forms, such as unreliable narration, fragmented or impaired language, defensive storytelling, and emotionally charged literature. Far from being purely symptomatic of suppression, these literary strategies can also function as acts of resistance, challenging the systems that seek to silence or marginalize their voices.

This volume invites contributions employing interdisciplinary methodologies to investigate the interplay between coercion and creativity. By examining how duress informs literary forms and themes, the collection aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the ways writers negotiate the limitations imposed upon their imagination while simultaneously resisting the forces that seek to constrain them.

We welcome contributions from scholars, researchers, and practitioners engaged with literature, cultural studies, postcolonial theory, diaspora studies, trauma studies, and related fields.

Suggested Topics

We welcome submissions that engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:

All submissions should be sent to [email protected] with the subject line "Submission for Writing under duress - Your Last Name."

About the Editors

Editor (1): Hamida Riahi holds a PhD in English Literature and is currently a lecturer in the Department of Languages and Translation at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia.

Editor (2): Mounir Triki is a full professor of pragmatics, critical discourse analysis, and cultural semiotics. He has national, regional, and international visibility both in research and supervision and evaluation of doctoral research. He has been a member or chairman of various national recruitment committees in Tunisia. He is currently director of the Laboratory on Language and Automatic Treatment after initially founding the Laboratory on Approaches to Discourse.

Editor (3): Saud Enazi is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and the Head of the Department of Languages and Translation at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia.